Melissa Lou Etheridge was born on May 29,1961 and is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and guitarist.
54 Facts About Melissa Etheridge
2.
In 1992, Melissa Etheridge released her third album, Never Enough, and its lead single, "Ain't It Heavy", won Melissa Etheridge her first Grammy Award.
3.
Melissa Etheridge achieved further success with her albums Breakdown, Skin, and Lucky.
4.
Later that year, Melissa Etheridge released her first compilation album, Greatest Hits: The Road Less Traveled.
5.
Melissa Etheridge has released 16 studio albums to date, the most recent being One Way Out.
6.
Melissa Etheridge is known for music with a mixture of "confessional lyrics, pop-based folk-rock, and raspy, smoky vocals".
7.
Melissa Etheridge has been a gay and lesbian activist since her public coming out in January 1993.
8.
Melissa Etheridge received the Berklee College of Music Honorary Doctor of Music Degree in 2006.
9.
Melissa Etheridge was born in Leavenworth, Kansas, the younger of two daughters of Elizabeth, a computer consultant, and John Melissa Etheridge, an American Constitution teacher at her alma mater, Leavenworth High School.
10.
Melissa Etheridge started to play in local country music groups in her teenage years and graduated from high school in 1979.
11.
Melissa Etheridge was discovered at Vermie's, a bar in Pasadena, California.
12.
Melissa Etheridge had made some friends on a women's soccer team, and those new friends came to see her play.
13.
Melissa Etheridge was impressed, and became a pivotal part of Etheridge's career.
14.
Melissa Etheridge signed a publishing deal to write songs for films including the 1986 movie Weeds.
15.
Melissa Etheridge's eponymous debut album Melissa Etheridge, was an underground hit, and the single "Bring Me Some Water" performed well on radio and was nominated for a Grammy Award.
16.
At the time of the album's release, it was not generally known that Melissa Etheridge was a lesbian.
17.
Melissa Etheridge did and was surprised to find himself one of the few men in attendance.
18.
Melissa Etheridge then went on the road, like one of her musical influences, Bruce Springsteen, and built a loyal fan base.
19.
In 1992, Melissa Etheridge established a performing arts scholarship at Leavenworth High School in honor of her recently deceased father.
20.
In January 1993, Melissa Etheridge came out publicly as a lesbian.
21.
Melissa Etheridge earned her second Grammy for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female for her single "Come to My Window", based on an unsettling scene in the Pavarotti film, "Yes, Giorgio".
22.
In 1993, Melissa Etheridge boycotted playing shows in Colorado over its passage of Amendment 2.
23.
In 1996, Melissa Etheridge won an ASCAP Songwriter of the Year award.
24.
Melissa Etheridge took a lengthy break from the music business to concentrate on her family when her first two children Bailey and Beckett were born.
25.
Melissa Etheridge recorded "Sin Tener A Donde Ir " for the AIDS benefit album Silencio=Muerte: Red Hot + Latin produced by the Red Hot Organization.
26.
Melissa Etheridge returned to the music charts with the release of Breakdown in October 1999.
27.
In 2002, Melissa Etheridge released an autobiography entitled The Truth Is: My Life in Love and Music.
28.
Melissa Etheridge began 2004 with the release of her eighth album Lucky on February 10.
29.
Melissa Etheridge was now in a new relationship with actress Tammy Lynn Michaels, whom she had begun dating in 2001.
30.
Melissa Etheridge introduced a new song specially written for the occasion called "Four Days".
31.
In November 2005, Melissa Etheridge appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno to perform her song "I Run for Life".
32.
Melissa Etheridge wrote "I Need to Wake Up" for the film documentary An Inconvenient Truth, which won the Oscar for Best Original Song in 2006.
33.
Melissa Etheridge was a judge for the 5th annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists' careers.
34.
On July 7,2007, Melissa Etheridge performed at the Giants Stadium on the American leg of Live Earth.
35.
Melissa Etheridge was featured in UniGlobe Entertainment's breast cancer docudrama titled 1 a Minute released in 2010.
36.
On October 6,2016, Melissa Etheridge released her 14th studio album, MEmphis Rock and Soul, a covers album made of blues tracks originally recorded by blues legends such as Otis Redding, William Bell, and the Staples Singers.
37.
On September 17,2021, Melissa Etheridge released a new album, One Way Out on BMG.
38.
Melissa Etheridge came out publicly as a lesbian in January 1993 at the Triangle Ball, a gay celebration of President Bill Clinton's first inauguration.
39.
Melissa Etheridge supported Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign and since coming out, has been a gay rights activist.
40.
Melissa Etheridge is an advocate for environmental issues and in 2006, she toured the US and Canada using biodiesel.
41.
Melissa Etheridge had a long-term partnership with Julie Cypher, and their relationship received coverage in The Advocate, when an interview with editor Judy Wieder done in Amsterdam, "The Great Dyke Hope," was released in July 1994.
42.
In October 2005, in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Melissa Etheridge appeared on Dateline NBC with Michaels to discuss her struggle with cancer.
43.
Melissa Etheridge said that her partner had been very supportive during her illness.
44.
Melissa Etheridge discussed using medicinal marijuana while she was receiving the chemotherapy.
45.
In November 2008, in response to the passing of California's Proposition 8 banning same-sex marriage, Melissa Etheridge announced that she would not pay her state taxes as an act of civil disobedience.
46.
Melissa Etheridge supported Barack Obama's decision to have Pastor Rick Warren speak at his 2009 Presidential inauguration, believing that he can sponsor dialogue to bridge the gap between gay and straight Christians.
47.
In 2013, Melissa Etheridge called Angelina Jolie's choice to have a double mastectomy to avoid the possibility of breast cancer a "fearful" choice.
48.
On May 13,2020, Melissa Etheridge announced on her Twitter that Beckett, her son with Cypher, had died of causes related to opioid addiction at the age of 21.
49.
In 1988, Melissa Etheridge received "Diamond Spotlight Award" in Diamond Awards Show, Belgium.
50.
At the 20th Annual Juno Awards in 1990, Melissa Etheridge won the Juno Award for International Entertainer of the Year.
51.
In 1996, Melissa Etheridge received ASCAP's Pop Songwriter of the Year Award.
52.
In 2006, at the 17th GLAAD Media Awards, Etheridge received GLAAD's Stephen F Kolzak Award, which honors openly lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender media professionals who have made a significant difference in promoting equal rights.
53.
Melissa Etheridge delivered the commencement address in front of more than 800 graduating students and 4,000 guests.
54.
On September 27,2011, Melissa Etheridge received the honor of having her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.